CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 1/22/26
Hey Everyone,
Once again, things are heavy in Minneapolis. I know it is a very disturbing situation on many of our minds, because community is the heart of what we all do. There is a lot of noise out there right now, which is why it is so important to stay engaged with the members of our communities near and far.
I like to use the CIMS Chart as an opportunity to highlight and share exciting and positive things happening with our stores, but in the spirit of true journalism, it is important to have those first-hand accounts from our community when things are not so good as well.
This week, I am sharing a letter from Jim Novak & Electric Fetus, a member of our CIMS community.
CIMS friends
Our city is going through some real shit right now, but I am still hopeful.
Our shop closed Friday in solidarity with other local businesses, and tens of thousands of Minnesotans peacefully marched without incident through our downtown area in -10 temps. It was a proud moment that shows the resilience of our city.
All of that went to shit on Saturday with the murder of Alex Pretti by federal agents, just over a mile from the store. Dawn was at Glam Doll Donuts across the street from that spot 30 minutes before the murder and all was calm at that point. One of the first circulated videos showing the murder was from inside that shop.
Within minutes, hundreds of Minnesotans were on the scene demonstrating and surrounding the federal agents, who refused crime scene access to our Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, despite the BCA getting a judge-signed search warrant for the area. (The BCA is our state's gov't org (independent-ish) that investigates things like police shootings.)
Shortly thereafter more federal agents entered the area, and they extracted the other agents with the use of flashbangs and chemical irritants like pepper spray and other mystery chemicals. One of their flashbangs went through a car window and set it on fire, which was put out by MN citizens and the Mpls Fire Dept.
One of our former staff was helping people get out of the way during the extraction (blocks away from the murder) and was sprayed in the face by federal agents. She was immediately assisted by her neighbors and is doing OK now.
Governor Walz mobilized our national guard to create a "Vehicle Exclusion Zone" around the area, which included our store. Steph and Aaron closed the store at 1:30pm due to airborne chemical irritants and incoming national guard presence. National guard troops were stationed on every intersection around the exclusion zone from early evening through about 12:30am with a Humvee and multiple squad cars in front of our store. I don't believe there were any incidents.
Sunday, we opened for business as usual, and had a normal-ish day sales-wise. Many customers commented they “had to come” and needed a place “to feel normal”.
Today we are closed as usual on Mondays and are reflecting/discussing how best to move forward as members of our community and as a small business.
Lots of our friends are reaching out asking how they can help us and our neighbors, so here’s what you can do:
Support our local non-profits:
This is our local food shelf: https://www.simpsonfoodpantry.org/
This is our local neighborhood coalition: https://www.whittieralliance.org/
This is our state’s immigrant law center: https://www.ilcm.org/
Support your local non-profits
Donate blood, and encourage your staff to do so
And one more thing you can do is share your ideas with us—things are moving fast and it’s a bit like drinking from a fire-hose of ideas at the moment. Special t-shirts/food and clothing drives/voter registration drives/etc. It’s all coming at us at the moment.
What’s worked for you and your store? We’d love to hear your thoughts, and unfortunately your city may be next so sharing ideas is important.
We are holding strong and are hopeful for better days ahead.
Love from MN,
Jim, Dawn, Aaron, Steph, Bob and the Fetoids
Thank you for reading.
Here are the charts.
Andrea
Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
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